ABOUT
Constanza Isaza is a visual artist, art historian, and educator based in London, working primarily with photography. Having developed a passion for the medium from a very young age, she studied Photographic Arts at the University of Westminster, and was awarded a First Class BA in 2007. In 2012, she received her MA in History of Art with a distinction from the Courtauld Institute.
Constanza’s practice is informed by her art-historical research, and characterised by an interest in the materiality of the print, the artistic possibilities of analogue and historical photographic processes, and the process of making as central to the meaning of the work. A preoccupation with transience, ephemerality, and decay threads through her practice, and is evident in her figurative photographic work as well as her abstract, cameraless pieces.
Constanza has participated in artist residencies in Canada, Italy and the USA. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is included in private collections in the UK, Colombia, Canada and the USA. She lives and works in London, where she co-owns Lux Darkroom, a space dedicated to teaching and researching analogue and historical photographic processes, as well as providing an editioning service for artists. She regularly teaches workshops in historical processes, both at Lux Darkroom, and for private clients including Cambridge School of Art, London College of Communication, Radley College, and the Institute of Conservators.
Education
• MA History of Art (Distinction), Courtauld Institute, London, 2012
• PgDip History of Art, Courtauld Institute, London, 2011
• BA Photographic Arts (First Class Honours), University of Westminster, London, 2007
Selected Exhibitions
• Beyond Silver, The Hive, Birmingham, January-February 2023
• Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London, UK, November 3-6th, 2022
• The Skin of the Print, Oxmarket Gallery, Chichester, October 2019
• Obsolete & Discontinued, Magazzini Fotografici, Naples, Italy, September 2019
• Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London, UK, November 22-25th, 2018
• UK 2018 Alternative Processes Exhibition, Clifford Thames Gallery, London, UK, October 28 - November 10, 2016
• Obsolete & Discontinued, Waterstones Bookshop Gallery, Gower Street, London, October 1-27th, 2018
• Obsolete & Discontinued, Schaelpic Photokunstbar, Cologne, Germany, November 2016
• Evolution, Revela-T Festival, Vilassar de Dalt, Spain, May 20th-June 5th, 2016
• Obsolete & Discontinued, Revela-T Festival, Vilassar de Dalt, Spain, May 20th-June 5th, 2016
• Blue Show, Fitzrovia Gallery, London, September 15th-October 1st, 2015
• Actinic Festival, Sharing a Core, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, June 26th-July 26th, 2015
• Material Light, (co-curator & exhibitor) Centre for Contemporary Culture, Belgrade, Serbia, Jul 30- Aug 15th, 2015
• Capturing Light, curated by Brigitte Lardinois and the London Alternative Photography Collective, Silverprint Gallery, London, May 5th – June 15th, 2015
• Lumen II: Dark from Night, St. John on Bethnal Green, London, March 9th - 28th, 2015
• Lumen I, The Crypt Gallery, London, December 17th - 22nd, 2014
• Capturing Light, curated by Brigitte Lardinois and the London Alternative Photography Collective, Lewes Castle Museum, Lewes, October 4th – November 30th, 2014
• Rooftop Collective - Edition IV, Goldcrest, London, December 5th - June 2015, 2014
• Rooftop Collective - Edition III, Curious Duke Gallery, London, October 13th - 25th, 2014
• Alternative & Analogue, Doomed Gallery, London, October 2nd - 5th, 2014
• RPS Print Open 157, Royal Photographic Society, various UK venues, August 2014 - 2015
• London Pinhole Festival, LAPC, Doomed Gallery, London, April 25th - 27th, 2014
• Material Light, Group exhibition (co-curator and exhibitor), London Gallery West, Westminster University, November 2013
• Vignette Awards, (shortlisted), Photographica, Bristol, October 2013
• Seeing Science, Curry College, Boston MA, USA, September-December 2010
• 7th Biennial of Colombian Photography, Sala Suramericana, Medellín, Colombia, August 2010
• (Any) Other Gallery (group exhibition), The Other Gallery, The Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada, March 2010
Publications
• Nelson, Don, Kallitype, Vandyke Brown, and Argyrotype, A Step-by-Step Manual of Iron-Silver Processes Highlighting Contemporary Artists, New York: Focal Press, 2023
• Isaza Martinez, Constanza, Making Kallitypes, B+W Magazine, Issue No. 262, March 2022
• Isaza Martinez, Constanza, Photopolymer Gravure, B+W Magazine, Issue No. 261, February 2022
• Isaza Martinez, Constanza, Making Cyanotypes, B+W Magazine, Issue No. 259, December 2021
• Isaza Martinez, Constanza, Platinum/Palladium Printing, B+W Magazine, Issue No. 255, August 2021
• Anderson, Christina Z. Cyanotype: The Blueprint in Contemporary Practice. New York: Focal Press, 2019
• Harmon, Clay, Polymer Photogravure: A Step-by-Step Manual, Highlighting Artists and Their Creative Practice, New York: Focal Press, 2018
• Crawford, Mike (ed.), Obsolete & Discontinued, London: Brovira Press, 2018
Teaching, Lectures, Seminars & other Events
• Director, Lux Darkroom, London, 2014-present
• 'A Question of Quality? A comparison of Copper and Polymer Photogravure' research paper presented at De/Reconstructing Photomechanical Reproduction Conference, Royal Photographic Society and Centre for Fine Print Research, September 2021
• Cyanotype & Photopolymer Gravure Workshops, Icelandic Printmakers Association, Reykjavík, Iceland, 2019
• Cyanotype Workshops, Radley College, 2017-present
• Cyanotype Workshop and giant cyanotype demonstration, Revela-T Festival, Spain, 2017
• Cyanotype and Salt Printing Workshops, Institute of Conservation Book & Paper Group, 2015-2017
• Cyanotype Workshop for B+W Magazine, 2015
• Visiting Lecturer, University of Westminster, BA Photography, 2015
• Ultraviolet: World Record Cyanotype, commissioned by the Wellcome Trust for the On Light event, UCL and Wellcome Collection, May 2015
• Speaker, Shadows Symposium, hosted by London Alternative Photography Collective and the Photography and Archive Research Centre, Camberwell College of Art, 2015
• Tutor, Cyanotype Short Course, London College of Communication, 2014
• Speaker, London Alternative Photography Collective, 2013
• Lecture, Dissection and Witchcraft: Images of Corpses in Early Modern Art, Morbid Anatomy Hendrick’s Lecture Series, Last Tuesday Society, London, 2013